The anatomical record : advances in integrative anatomy and evolutionary biology
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Review Comparative Study
Of pheromones and kairomones: what receptors mediate innate emotional responses?
Some chemicals elicit innate emotionally laden behavioral responses. Pheromones mediate sexual attraction, parental care or agonistic confrontation, whereas predators' kairomones elicit defensive behaviors in their preys. This essay explores the hypothesis that the detection of these semiochemicals relies on highly specific olfactory and/or vomeronasal receptors. ⋯ Our results confirm that both mouse strains avoid TMT, which increases immobility in C57BL/J6, but not CD1 mice. However, mice of both strains sniff at TMT throughout the test and show no trace of TMT-induced contextual conditioning (immobility or avoidance). This suggests that TMT is not a kairomone but, similar to a loud noise, in high concentrations it induces aversion and stress as unspecific responses to a strong olfactory stimulation.
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This article aims to describe what is it like to perceive reality when suffering from congenital anosmia. Nevertheless, this objective entails a fundamental difficulty. Since I have never had the experience of olfaction, it seems natural to me to live in a world lacking the olfactory dimension; this subjective perception is the only one I know and in consequence it is difficult to describe. ⋯ It is a philosophical-literary exercise, and does not aim to be anything other than that. But I hope it will help to formulate meaningful questions, which would then need a properly scientific approach. In the first part of this article I want to try to describe how I became aware that other people could smell; and in a second part, I will try to examine the consequences of anosmia in different areas of everyday life: nourishment, relationships with people, own body perception, natural or urban environments perception, time perception, and finally aesthetic appreciation and the implications of living in a world without stench.
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In our previous research, we created state-of-the-art sectioned images, color-coded images, and surface models of the human ear. Our ear data would be more beneficial and informative if they were more easily accessible. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to distribute the browsing software and the PDF file in which ear images are to be readily obtainable and freely explored. ⋯ Furthermore, using the PDF file, clinical knowledge could be identified through virtual otoscopy. Therefore, the presented educational tools will be helpful to medical students and otologists by improving their knowledge of ear anatomy. The browsing software and PDF file can be downloaded without charge and registration at our homepage (http://anatomy.dongguk.ac.kr/ear/).